Our
Newsletter
Islington U3A produces a newsletter three to four
times a year. We let every member know when there is
a new one, sending them a link so that they can
easily see it online. To see our latest (Summer
2018) newsletter click here

Pub Quiz
2019We
held our annual pub quiz in
February 2019 and for a
change held it in the
Canonbury Tavern. As always
it was well supported, with
58 members buying a ticket
for the event. A number of
members met beforehand to
eat at the Tavern and then
we took up our team places
upstairs. Again
our professional
quizmaster
for the evening
was Jez Worsnip, who
designs the questions
especially for iU3A: of
course the judge's word is
final! As always it's a
great opportunity to test
the grey matter and get to
know other members.

Ten teams battled it out
with mixed fortunes. It
was fairly close at half
time but the musical
questions were hard, causing
some pain to most teams, so
there was a clear leader. In
the second half the
favourites (Team: 'F' Word)
lost some ground but were
still clear winners.

So
another successful event
enjoyed by all. Thanks to
Anne, Ann, Mary, Kathryn and
Christine for organising it.
We are
already
all looking forward to next
year's.

Last
Monthly MeetingJanuary — Frank Dobson, who was Labour MP for Holborn and
St Pancras from 1979 until 2015, gave a fascinating and
amusing talk about his time as Secretary of State for Health
in the Blair government from 1997 to 1999. He took us
through some of the headline issues of his time such as:
ensuring new effective meningitis vaccine was available for
children; establishing NICE, the National Institute for
Clinical Excellence, which focussed on the
cost-effectiveness of clinical treatments and became a model
for other countries; managing blood supply scandals such as
CJD infected blood; establishing the NHS helpline NHS
Direct; and reorganising children’s intensive care services.
In all these cases, as Secretary of State he was always
having to weigh up conflicting advice from representatives
of different professionals and interest groups, and find
funding when there was no money in his budget, as well as
bear in mind how the public respond to the issue.

For information about our previous monthly talks see here.AGMOn 22
November iU3A held its AGM.
The annual accounts were presented and five members
elected on to the Executive Committee to replace
resigning members. You can see all the subjects
addressed here.

Open Day 2018In
October our Open Day was also our fifth birthday
celebration. Again this proved very popular and
enabled non-members to meet us and find out about
all the things iU3A does. As in previous years there
was an excellent turnout with over 200 attending
(151 members and 50 non-members). Out of the 50, 23
joined iU3A on the day and many others took away
forms, so we hope to hear from them again soon. The
existing members who turned up used the chance to
see what other groups were on offer and sign up to
them. Everybody also enjoyed our delicious birthday
cake and had a good natter. This year the 'star' who
cut our birthday cake was our acting Vice Chair,
Ruth Gee.

With over 60 interest groups on
display there were many great displays. Eight
potential new groups were also being
advertised to gauge interest and support.
Visible and audible displays charmed the
audience as they strolled around. All the
existing Group Coordinators and their helpers
did an excellent job of explaining what their
group did and hence encouraged many to sign
up. Hopefully this exercise also encouraged
more members to be brave enough to volunteer
to be Coordinators.

A special thanks must go to the sub-committee
which organised another successful day,
particularly to Sue Welsford, Diane Austin,
Margaret Wearing and Isabel Dickson for
coordinating the whole event. The Open Day is
our major showcase for members and to the
public who might be interested in joining. Summer
Party 2018In
June we held our annual Summer
Party for all members.
The venue was the Olden Gardens and it was looking its
best. This tranquil haven is a glorious backdrop for our
jolly party. All tickets were sold out with 100 coming
on this beautiful sunny evening. The booze lasted to the
end this year so all were happy, in fact the challenge
was getting people to vacate the gardens at the end when
our time was up. Much socialising
and milling around had been possible — to chat to
friends and make new friendships. Thanks to Lesley
Delacourt for again bringing the bubbly back from France
at a very low cost allowing us all to benefit by the low
ticket price. Thanks also to Diane Austin and Sue
Welsford for organising this event. But also to all our
Volunteers who helped out on the
day as well.

Group CoordinatorsWe recently
held a 'thankyou' lunch for all our Group
Coordinators. 45 attended, a good majority of the
total we have. They were all thanked for the efforts
they provided in running their groups. Our activity
groups make up the majority of what we offer in iU3A,
so we are highly dependent on these volunteers. Unlike
the annual Group Coordinators' Meeting this was not
about training but merely a thankyou. However it still
provided an opportunity for the Group Coordinators to
exchange ideas amongst themselves and learn about
other group activities. While the service was a bit
slow the conversation flowed.

It was also an
opportunity to put a face to a name on an email. All
seemed to enjoy the event.

A big thankyou to Sue and Judith for organising the
event.

Results from the recent (June 2018) Group Coordinators
survey can be read here.

iU3A
OutingsDecember — Christmas Market,
Brussels: a group of iU3A pioneers enjoyed a wonderful
day out in Brussels enjoying sights and sounds of this
charming city, the Christmas market, and a very nice
restaurant.

We took advantage of the very reasonable train fares offered
by Eurostar (if one books a few months in advance)
travelling to and from Brussels in just over two hours. The
early afternoon was spent sightseeing, taking in parks and
key buildings whilst meandering in the general direction of
the Christmas market. One very important refuelling stop
allowed us to sample the famous Belgian chocolate both as a
drink and as a waffle topping.
We passed by the Manneken Pis, the Grand Place, the Hotel de
Ville, the Eglise St-Nicolas, and the Museum of the City of
Brussels finally arriving at the Christmas market. Rather
bizarrely the market had a Finnish theme to it and several
stalls were selling Finnish goods including whole smoked
salmon. There was no shortage of things to purchase, eat or
imbibe as one walked around this large market. The far end
of the market had a Ferris wheel which offered excellent
views of the city.

In the late afternoon we reconvened at the
La Brouette restaurant in the Grand Place, enjoying a
magnificent light show just before we went in to eat. The
restaurant was full of character and the meal was excellent,
as was the wine and beer. A five minute walk took us back to
the local train station which was one hop away from the
Eurostar station. A stress-free embarkation with all our
parcels and we were whizzing back to London. We all had a
really wonderful day out enjoying each other’s company and
all that Brussels has to offer. We hope to offer more
Outings to cities accessible by Eurostar, based on this very
positive experience.

Thanks to David McP for all the organisation of this very
enjoyable Outing.

September
— a
large group of
iU3A members
headed off to
Bletchley Park
this
month.See the
full report
with photos here.

Thanks again
to David,
Elizabeth and
Judith for
organising
this outing.

June — Twickenham:
this month our
Outing was to
two houses in
the Twickenham
area. A full
report can be
viewed here.

May—
Kempton
Park
Racecourse:
the sun shone
on the 18
members who
embarked upon
their
researches
into the
mysteries of
the "Sport of
Kings". The
travel
arrangements
from Waterloo
were, so I'm
told,
seamless. This
set the tone
for the day.
The Panorama
Restaurant,
which
overlooked the
winning post
and provided a
menu, appealed
to all. The
opportunity to
stand by the
Winning Post
was taken by
many and the
excitement
enjoyed by the
winners was
truly
infectious.
Those few who
claimed to be
ingenues had
luck riding
with them;
those who
claimed some
knowledge were
deserted by
"her
Ladyship." As
the card ended
around 4:30
the journey
home was in
reasonable
comfort. Those
who attended
all asked for
the event to
become a
regular
fixture in the
iU3A calendar.
In
April iU3A
held its first
'Outing':Eltham
Palace has
for centuries
been a royal
palace, and is
now an
unoccupied
royal
residence
owned by the
Crown Estate.
Since 1995 it
has been
managed by
English
Heritage, who
restored it in
1999 and
opened it to
the public.
Internally,
the Art Deco
house is "a
masterpiece of
modern
design". There
is also a
magnificent
Great Hall, a
survival from
the mediaeval
royal palace.
There are 19
acres of
beautiful
gardens, with
a rock garden,
a moat crossed
by London's
oldest working
bridge and a
sunken rose
garden. Full
report and
photos here. Thanks to Angela Treves and David McPhail for
organising
this one.

Boating Outing: in November
2017 eleven iU3A members enjoyed a narrowboat trip
out of the Islington boat club. We were well looked
after by our skipper, Amber, who steered us off in a
Westerly direction. We very quickly negotiated our first
lock and then headed directly to the Islington tunnel
(more info here).

Various members of the group took turns at steering the
boat in a good straight line through the 960 yards of
the tunnel. This was very much a highlight of the trip.

On
reaching the Kings Cross side we
performed a “u-turn” (a non-trivial exercise) and then
went back through the tunnel
to Islington. We then headed East for a while before
returning to dry land at the boat club. Most
of the group then enjoyed a drink at the Plaquemine Lock
pub (more info here)
where there was a live jazz band.

There was a lot of enthusiasm
for an all-day trip, to include a picnic lunch, in the
Spring. Watch the "What's On Page" for further
info......

Theatre Visits

We hold these at least once a year. These
are in addition to our two Theatre Groups that we have
(for more information see the GROUPS
page.
In December 2017 we had another successful annual
outing to the Park Theatre at Finsbury Park. We
saw a revival of Joe Orton's wonderful black comedy Loot,
which opened one week after the 50th anniversary of the
playwright's tragic death. Over 106 iU3A members (&
friends) attended this enjoyable evening. The talk before
the play from the director to iU3A give us some special
insights into the changing values and views from its
original production. Again, many thanks are due to Sue
Welsford for organising this event.

Clues TrailsWe're into
2018 and planning for two of these popular events
during this year.

The first of these was held in June and the second
in September. For the June one a warm Sunday meant a
very pleasant event with three teams this time
(numbers a bit down from the last one). This one was
based again around the city and followed byways and
alleys that most people didn't even know existed.
Great views over the river at one point. Most teams
got the majority of the clues and got back to the
starting & finishing point pub in good time.
However the photo images were the differentiating
aspect. No team spotted all the images during their
route but the 'Poached Eggheads' saw the most and
hence were the winning team.

The September one (arranged by Elizabeth Mansbridge)
saw us in a new area for this Clues Trail —
Canary Wharf. While the image might be of tall
skyscrapers and not much else, we discovered an
amazing collection of street art, historic corners,
and interesting architectural features. Numbers
attending were a bit disappointing considering the
effort put in to organise these events. But maybe a
Friday just coincides with too many other iU3A
activities.

In 2017 —
in August on the day 22 members turned up to form
five teams, then followed the trail to seek out the
clues. Additional points were awarded for spotting
the location of some photographic images during the
trail and a special round at the end back at the pub
tested teams' knowledge of the London Guilds. Again
everyone thoroughly enjoyed the event. Thanks to
Elizabeth Mansbridge for organising this one — and
we all look forward to the next one.

Computer/Tablet/Smartphone
SessionsThese are a
regular feature in iU3A now. These
drop-in help sessions allow iU3A members with
any query they have regarding their computers,
tablets or smartphones to drop in and receive
guidance from other iU3A members. They
are generally held every 2 to 3 months with members requesting help with a
variety of query areas.
Some
of these are simple (to some) and were easy to give
guidance on, others were harder to solve with much
cross-learning and use of Google search. Again all the
"customers" went away very contented and with
increased confidence to try things for themselves.
Thanks again to all the volunteers who came along to
share their knowledge with other iU3A members. A
general tutorial on some points raised previously is
available here.

See the 'What's On' page for details of the next of
these sessions (if there is one scheduled). Or for any
help with your computer, tablet or smartphone you
could try our help line. Send your query with
details to computerhelp.iu3a@gmail.com.